When I was a young boy, eating with my father, in my mind the first to finish their food was considered “the big man”. Who could eat the most, and maybe get another serving? I had learned this from living with my Brother at my mom’s house, it was survival of the fittest. However, my dad had the wisdom to counteract that sentiment, that would stick with me forever. “Munch munch munch” I would scarf down my food and say “I’m finished! Look how big I am”. He would chuckle, “Actually… who’s really the victor if I am still enjoying this delicious food?” It hit me like a ton of bricks. He was absolutely right. 

   From then on I had learned a valuable lesson, that the world tries to distract us from: Consuming means nothing if you aren’t enjoying what you intake. This is important to me today more than it ever has been. To this day I am a notoriously slow eater, but the fruits of my(non)- labor don’t appear until each one of my friends is done with their meal, and I’m still in heaven. Our relationship with products in this day and age is twisted. Corporations can sell us anything with repetition, and like “big men” we “munch Munch munch” so we can ask for more. Like Clockwork the demand keeps rising because we want to prove ourselves, and this would be fine if the supply wasn’t killing our earth, our humanity, and our children’s future. 

Women’s history

    This greed monster that we continue to feed works both ways. The corporations who can’t get enough of feeding us, often instant gratification, condition us to continually want to consume more and in turn, increase the demand. It is a dangerous game, the most lethal, for there is no end in sight. While some are hurting just to afford basic supplies and the most necessary things, others are trapped in a game of consumerism with the biggest suppliers in the world. You will never get enough from Jeff Bezos, and he doesn’t want you to, he’ll never get tired of selling you stuff. Somehow our brains or our ignorance has conditioned us to think that things we buy for a dopamine boost are just as crucial as those struggling to afford the most basic needs. Most people are ignoring the houslessness crisis as though people living on the subway are the dangerous ones. I tell you, feeding a greed monster with the world’s resources being constantly depleted, is the most dangerous thing we can do in today’s age. Let’s ask the Carbon footprint of the houseless person, and compare it with how many amazon packages you had delivered this month. I suppose that is the divide, some people are more afraid of the economy collapsing than the earth collapsing. They must think that currency floats into existence at the hands of a benevolent white man fairy who then decides to back up the markets, the business and play trickle down economics from there. Nah. Currency comes from the plundering of wildlife and resources based on the way we use energy in our society. Anything that runs is ran on the back of indigineous land and natural reserves. Have we stopped to be grateful for what we have? Are we so bent on finishing a meal that we forget to enjoy it? Living isn’t easy for anyone, so how about caring and uplifting are most vulnerable in this time. Being ignored is not easy, it’s one of my biggest fears, to be silenced. My intention isn’t to come off as a saint, for I too feel the bottomless pit of greed. I recognize my privilege as someone from a modern country; however, I do see myself in both shoes for I come from humble beginnings, and still haven’t fully escaped the jaws of poverty. Wanting more than you have can come from a place of scarcity or conditioning, but we will not move on as a species until we learn to enjoy what we have. Once We adopt a fuller approach to life we might finally be able to grow together as a species. Instead of only caring about the wealthy, we might build a better relationship with our earth and her natural bountiful body. She is who feeds and nurtures us, and we turned inward and disrespected her kindness, to our own detriment. We think we’re special, but in the scheme of existence, we could have just as well not existed. So we should be grateful for our life and our time, and savor the taste and flavor of this wonderful world we live in. A smile goes a long way. Music, dance, even just observing, it’s a cliche but enjoy the little things. Death is quick, unexpected, and final, and we don’t want to spend our life having only consumed like so many before us. I’d rather at least enjoy my time on earth and God-willing create things that inspire and uplift people after I’m gone. I would encourage everyone to do the same which includes savoring that bite. Not rushing to be finished, but happy to be present. This is the only way we might give ourselves a breather from the constant commotion and stress of life because greed isn’t a bandaid, it only further accentuates the problem, and continues to create more.

By Yasin Muhammad

A smile and a friendly face go a long way. Mental Health in the black community is real and it is deadly. I just talked to a friend from Chicago who was immersed in gang life and he said that he only just learned what mental health was! He had been roaming the streets searching for family in gang activity. 

Who does one turn to when the stress of life fills your body. Black youth have had so much put on them from generational trauma to systemic poverty and disenfranchisement, and it’s even sadder that we have the fewest outlets to deal with this pain. People tell us to “just deal with it” or “keep it to yourself” and then complain about children lashing out in class or not having as much focus. Imagine the young child who sees his mother, father, sister struggling beyond belief, trying to focus on school. Through abuse, alcoholism, and neglect we ask him to ignore that and do math problems. He goes to school, perhaps seeking asylum or relief, and teachers tell him to “shut up and be quiet”. Label him a trouble maker, turn him into an outcast or the class clown, another stressor on his list, when really making people laugh or rousing a reaction is how he relieves his stress. It’s how he attempts to express the tremendous grief he sees at such a young age, it’s how he tries to communicate with the world. 

Joe Clark, School Principal Who Inspired Film ‘Lean on Me,’ Has Died At 82

     I had a friend in elementary school named Aaron Richardson. The funniest young 13-14-year-old you ever met. Hilarious. He had witty comebacks, delightful antics, I mean every time this kid spoke it was a pure unpolished gemstone of comedy. Naturally, he wasn’t an A-plus student, in fact, he frequented the office, got put out of class, constantly yelled out, and placed in time out because he didn’t really take school seriously. I mean how could you when exposed to some of the stuff we’ve seen as young people. But he was gifted. I found myself always smiling when I was near him, and hoped to see who he would one day become in life, surpassing the reputation adults had of him. 

  Coming from the hood you are attracted to gang life. It might as well be the sun. The hopes of a brother-hood, family, and success attract young people from broken homes like sunshine attracts life. When one fails to find it in the community, It’s natural to turn to gang life, as it’s the most glorified activity within the Black community and beyond. Unfortunately, Aaron fell victim to that fatal attraction. I will never forget the chilling foreshadowing of the gym teacher who was always lecturing our class. He said this reprimanding Aaron in class: “I know kids like you, I’ve seen it happen time and time again. If you don’t straighten up something terrible is gonna come about”, he said, “I wish it doesn’t. I don’t want it to, but like clockwork, it repeats over and over.” 

    At the time I thought it was just the ravings of a mad school teacher, scaring discipline into us and him. However, as I get older I realize the realness of experience. This man has seen children die countless times. Every year. All the teachers have. How traumatic! But there’s nothing they can do, except blabber in the moment of some unforeseeable impending doom. Children don’t give a shit about what adults are saying half the time. We just live. Young people just don’t have the experience to actually be affected by wisdom sometimes. It’s just a fact, and they shouldn’t have to be able to understand! They should be protected by leaders in the community, and government, but that’s the opposite of what’s happening. Instead, they become blamed, ostracized, and expelled time and time again, which only pushes them further onto a narrow road. The last line of defense between a kid the age of 14 and death should not be the rantings of a gym teacher in the past time. The teacher didn’t even have to be lecturing us, he wasn’t our homeroom teacher; instead, he took time to express concern and tried to convey a warning. I mean, sadly,  the same outcome was likely if not a soul in the schoolhouse cared a lick about our futures. 

      Maybe some people do take heed and change their trajectory from chilling lectures, but from the way he sounded, it was rare. What a miserable fortune, to oversee the death of children; similarly, to be powerless against the death of our future. Aaron got shot about a couple of years later. One of the brightest eyed funniest people I had ever known, perished at the bullet of a gun. He was skinny, light-skinned, and loved by all, and he did not receive what he deserved in life. He deserved more. He deserved a chance to be somebody, to be great. A chance at life, he deserved a chance to see the world and what it has to offer. To put his talents to use, he would have made so many people smile. The world might never see his shining face or hear one of his jokes, but you will know his name. Aaron Richardson. He shouldn’t have felt like a gang was his only option. White people get therapy. Well to do people get therapy, they have piano lessons and travel. They watch TV and see themselves represented, they see themselves in charge. When we watch TV it seems so far from our current reality. Despite that, we still aim to be seen. Young black youth want to be rappers and basketball players because that’s the only media we see ourselves in. That’s damn near the only option they give us. White children see surgeons, attorneys, accountants, and millionaires who all look like them. The most prevalent and seductive representation we achieve is as rappers and ballplayers, not even musicians all the time, and the irony is that rappers glorify the very same thing that’s attractive in the ghettos, gang violence. Black children, most of the time don’t grow up learning from Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, and Jimi Hendrix. Although those men and many other people shaped the world we live in. Sure we get a month to recognize achievement, but that is a slap in the face when Black people, quite literally, built this country for free and continuously give our intellectual emotional, and spiritual labor to the world, without receiving a single goddamn thing in return. I can’t condemn the glorification of gang life by rappers, for if I was Italian, I would glorify the Mafia, but it’s a trap to our young kids. It’s sinister that the heads of these record labels profit off of black death, and go home to their safe mansion while people lose their lives in a race to live a lifestyle that ain’t it. Dying before you can live is one of the most tragic things that can happen, and it occurs way too frequently in our communities. I need to see more young black children with acting classes and piano lessons. Our people need to tour the world, and experience what life has to offer. Money or status should not be the difference between life and death for children. We deserve a chance at life, a community that’s safe, funded, and protected, and representations that reflect our contribution to society and the world.